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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29739099">Let Your Colours (and the Sun in June, and Happy Tears) Blind their Eyes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/loopd/pseuds/oldsmobile-hotdogs'>oldsmobile-hotdogs (loopd)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alex Mercer Has Bad Parents (Julie and The Phantoms), Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Julie Molina, Bisexual Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms), Crying, Flynn Uses She/Her and They/Them Pronouns (Julie and The Phantoms), Gay Alex Mercer (Julie and The Phantoms), Multi, Pansexual Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Post-Canon, Pride Parades, Reggie Peters Has Bad Parents (Julie and The Phantoms), There is No Cishet in Julie and the Phantoms, Willie Uses He/Him and They/Them Pronouns (Julie and The Phantoms), and when she touches them they're visible, julie can touch the ghosts incl. willie, thank god, willie has his soul back</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 21:08:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,559</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29739099</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/loopd/pseuds/oldsmobile-hotdogs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe afterwards they would claim the heat, or the music, or the standing around got to them. But they all knew they were crying because it was beautiful and they never wanted it to end.</p><p>Inspired by a head-canon by latinposeidon.tumblr.com : "Julie took the boys to Hollywood Pride and they all individually cried"</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>93</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Let Your Colours (and the Sun in June, and Happy Tears) Blind their Eyes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Rated T for swearing !</p><p>Thanks again to latinposeidon on tumblr for letting me write about his amazing head-canon! Go check him out!</p><p>Also if you are familiar with the layout of West Hollywood I apologise. The streets should be correct but I am almost 100% sure what's on them is not.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The whole garage buzzed with anticipation. They were ten minutes out of their scheduled departure time to LA Pride in West Hollywood, and Julie was practically bouncing around the room. Luke <em>was</em> bouncing around the room. She didn't blame him.</p><p>If it had only been Julie and Flynn attending, she didn't think she would have had as much nervous energy as she did now: they'd both been to Pride before, and even though it was still plenty exciting, they now had that privilege that came with familiarity of being able to say things like, "it's much hotter than it was last year", or "I have no idea who the person singing is meant to be. Am I supposed to?", or "wow, the crowd control around that float is not super great". But this year it wasn't just her and Flynn standing on the pavement of Santa Monica Boulevard, whooping at every new group of people who walked past: the boys were coming too, and that was what she was excited for.</p><p>She recognised that even though Pride had been in LA the entire time they were alive, the topic was much more taboo, the parade was much smaller, and the boys themselves were also much smaller for most of it, and as a consequence this was their first Pride parade. Alex had practically shaken the whole garage down with how anxious he'd been when he'd asked Willie to be with him at his first Pride a couple weeks ago. Of course, Willie had accepted the offer without hesitation, but it was clear the nerves came from this being big for them. All of them.</p><p>Admittedly, the logistics of getting four ghosts, one of which you occasionally couldn't see, and a lifer, who couldn't see the ghosts without you mediating, ready for Pride had been complex. Julie had insisted the night before that she would paint everyone's nails and give them matching manicures, and while her own and Flynn's nails were dead easy to paint, and the three boys were fine enough (except that every time Julie actually made contact with her brush a small shock ran through her arm because not so long ago they were entirely intangible in some of their darkest moments), trying to paint Willie's had been... interesting. Unable to see them, Julie had had to fish around with her other hand until she felt flesh make contact with flesh, even though to the outsider her hand was suspended in mid-air, and grasp onto the flesh, at which point Willie's hand, along with the rest of him, apparated in front of her. The painting went relatively smoothly after that, the two of them making light conversation and Julie glad to finally get to know Willie past the occasional handshake, but when the one hand was finished and Willie pulled away to fan it and went to give Julie their other hand it was as if both had entirely forgotten the ordeal they had just experienced and they had to play the "Michaelangelo - The Creation of Adam" game again. Eventually everyone's work had dried, and between them they noticed that Julie had given each person a different solid colour, save for their ring finger, which was decorated in the six colours of the typical pride flag. Reggie convinced everyone that they had to take pictures when he figured this out, and so they stood in a circle showing off their left hands to an eagle-eyed phone camera like they were in middle school, Flynn precariously holding the phone by three fingers of their right hand but somehow still managing to show off her left, and Julie having to secretly hold all of the ghosts' right hands with hers at once, practically less than a finger making contact with each. The paranormal world must operate on semantics, though, because the picture turned out terrifically, with everyone's beautiful nail art visible.</p><p>Julie had also been nervous for how putting on clothes that didn't previously belong to the ghosts would go when she brought her collection of queercoded clothing and accessories into the garage earlier that day and let the boys have at it. Flynn assured her that once Luke had pulled the absolutely fuck-off tank top, not that Julie was biased or anything, tie-dyed the colours of the pansexual flag, over his head that they could no longer see it, and that the same thing occured when Alex donned a retro ringer rainbow t-shirt and Reggie tied the flannel that was the colours of the bisexual flag, a leftover from Julie's baby-bi phase, around his waist. Julie was finally able to confirm this for herself when she saw what must have been Willie first apparate a colour-block jumper across the room, and then pick up a beautiful white cropped hoodie embroidered with green carnations that Julie had fashioned one afternoon, unsure of her intentions when making it but knowing she wanted to make at least one Achillean happy, and it disappearing from view once what looked like the forms of their arms were through the sleeves. After spending a little more time layering bracelets and necklaces and gently applying the brightest makeup Julie could find to everyone's faces, within reason, the group was aesthetically kitted out and left to wait until they would officially depart.</p><p>With about eight minutes left until they were meant to leave, Julie saw Ray round the corner holding a tote bag from a camera company, the brandname and logo loudly stated in pride colours. She rolled her eyes affectionately at the sight and heard Flynn comment, 'Wow, even camera companies will support the gays if it means contributing to consumerism.'</p><p>She could've sworn she could hear Willie respond with something about ethical consumption being impossible under capitalism, even though technically it would be impossible for her to hear him, but judging by Alex's giggle, which she could easily hear, she felt like her intuition wasn't far off.</p><p>'Oh, well don't you two look colourful!' Ray beamed once he had spotted Flynn and Julie. Stepping into the garage, he opened up the tote bag for them to have a look inside. 'Two waters, two tubs of Tia's arroz con pollo for lunch, some granola bars just in case, band-aids, bug spray, sunscreen, and!' he paused, opening a small zipper inside the bag for a pocket near the top. 'There's some extra change if you need it for bus fare or emergencies.' Julie gratefully accepted the bag from her father. 'Now, are you sure you have everything you need, mijas? I don't want you leaving something important behind.'</p><p>Julie rolled her eyes affectionately once more, 'Dad, we'll be fine. We've been before and nothing bad's happened. It's not far.'</p><p>'I know, I know, I just worry,' her father admitted, pausing for a moment and smiling proudly at the two of them. 'Gosh, you're both so grown up, going to West Hollywood all by yourselves!' Julie pretended to retch, but there was no malice to it.</p><p>'Okay, so I guess you better head off soon!' Ray continued, dusting his hands on his dark grey jeans. 'Have fun!'</p><p>'Will do, Mr Molina!' Julie heard Reggie say, and it took everything in her not to break out into a huge grin that her father would absolutely ask questions about. Having seemingly decided the conversation had drawn to a nice close, Ray waved them off and headed back up the path to the house, jogging up the stairs. Once again, the gang were left in the garage.</p><p>Flynn turned on her phone to check the time. 'We're five minutes early, but we might as well start walking,' they suggested, shrugging. Julie heard all of the ghosts agree to their idea and they finally departed after Alex checked once more through his fanny pack to make sure he actually <em>hadn't</em> forgotten anything, Willie having to amusedly remind him that none of them would actually need anything, given that they were all ghosts.</p>
<hr/><p>Julie wasn't lying about the parade not being far. It only took a ninety-minute walk filled with laughter and "pre-game music", as Flynn had insisted it be called, before they had arrived to the location of where the parade would start.</p><p>'I don't wanna be somebody! Just wanna be me! Be me!' They were all, as Luke informed Julie with some annoyance, obnoxiously singing along to Flynn's pristine collection of pop music, specially curated for today, as they rounded the corner from Crescent Heights onto Holloway, at which point they all immediately fell silent, only the tinny music emanating from the bottom of Flynn's phone, tucked into a pocket of her hot pink boiler suit, still audible.</p><p>This part- seeing everybody in one spot getting ready to march or go spectate- always gave Julie and Flynn pause. It somehow cemented that this was all real: that their experiences were real; that other people had similar experiences that were just as real, and that everybody was real enough being exactly who they were that thousands of people were willing, and had been willing for over fifty years, to be out in public, under the baking summer heat, purely to show themselves, each other and the rest of the whole world that they were real. From where they were all still standing possibly hundreds of attendees were visible, either lining up under signed registration stations for organisations marching, or turning onto the pavement to continue walking down Holloway until they found their place to stand. Many of them had flags adorned on their faces in paint, or pinned to their clothes, or tied around their necks like capes, and many more were waving small plastic pride flags high in the air, Julie almost able to hear their flitting in the wind just by looking at them. This part was always a little emotionally overwhelming, but more in an exciting way for Julie and Flynn.</p><p>Julie heard a sniff from behind her. Turning around, her eyes met a very perplexed Flynn who obviously hadn't heard the noise before darting over to where it was absolutely coming from and locking onto an Alex who was now hurriedly wiping at his eyes and nose with the back of his hand.</p><p>'Oh, Alex,' Julie breathed out, her heart breaking for him, unsure of quite what to say that could make everything alright. She gestured lightly to offer a hug and he gladly accepted, almost running into the embrace. Unconcerned with whether someone saw, given both that her friend was having a world-altering revelation and that this probably wasn't even the most attention-grabbing occurrence happening on this part of the street, Julie wrapped her arms tightly around him, feeling him lightly poof into corporeality, and planted her head firmly in his chest, allowing his to rest on her shoulder. The sobs that began to leak out were small, Alex still probably wanting to hold back even though no one would mind. Julie found herself stroking up and down his back, lightly shushing him.</p><p>'I am so sorry,' she whispered quietly to him, aware that even in this much of a vulnerable state, the less attention Alex drew the better he would feel. 'We all love you so much, Alex.'</p><p>They stood in relative silence for a few minutes, Flynn at some point turning off her music out of respect. Eventually he began to pull away to the point where they were stood apart from one another but still holding each other's hands.</p><p>'Some of these tears are happy tears,' he clarified, releasing a short, wet laugh. 'Because today's a happy day, and I'm going to have a wonderful time because I'm surrounded by people who love me.'</p><p>'I know,' Julie replied, beaming at him, proud of his resilience. 'But don't be afraid to tell someone if today becomes hard at any point. We'll hide in a bathroom stall in a McDonald's or something, I'll figure it out.' This coaxed another laugh from Alex, the timbre this time less affected by tears.</p><p>Alex nodded and let go of her hands gently, and she once again felt him poof, now invisible again to all lifers but her. He walked over to a small empty space that Julie assumed was occupied by Willie, her suspicions confirmed when she saw him lean his head on air and joke, 'I would be the first to go, wouldn't I?'</p><p>Julie allowed the atmosphere to settle and double-checked that Alex was successfully working himself down before she suggested they all proceed. Picking up their strides once more, the group officially turned onto Holloway, walking down the pavement and beginning to scan for a spot empty enough to house two and hide four more.</p>
<hr/><p>The spot they ended up choosing was located part of the way down Santa Monica Boulevard, only across the street and a couple hundred yards away from where Julie and Flynn had stood last year: the sushi restaurant that they spent the entirety of last pride inhaling the scent of and drooling over could be seen from where they now stood.</p><p>They weren't standing around for long before the parade commenced, but the point along the route where they were meant they still had a while before they could see a human face with any clarity. Still, the excitement radiating off of everyone in the vicinity was palpable, and people whooped and cheered purely out of joy for just being there.</p><p>Of course the experience only got better when they could finally start waving frantically at everyone walking past; smiling and greeting them with a loud "Happy Pride!" without any prompting necessary, and dancing along to the music blaring from the various buses, floats and floats made out of buses that rolled down the middle of the street. About an hour into the parade a group of trans people marching who all had dog ownership in common started up a chant, shouting "trans rights!" while pumping their fists in the air and then clapping thrice, emulating an old trick to get kindergarteners' attention, before starting the loop over again. Their section of the street immediately picked it up, continuing the chant well after the group had left earshot, and even persuading several groups behind to join in. At one point Julie checked her phone and they had been chanting "trans rights!" on-and-off for twenty minutes. Her heart felt fit to burst.</p><p>The cheering and whooping only grew in size and volume when their part of the street saw a group who had being parents or otherwise older relatives of LGBTQ+ youth in common approaching. Julie felt her heart tug when she noticed that this group was also giving out parental hugs to members of the crowd on the pavement, their members darting into the throngs of people to offer bone-crushing hugs to those with their arms outstretched, their shirts drawn on in red fabric marker to say "FREE MOM HUGS" or "WE'RE PROUD OF YOU, SON". Once the group reached them, Julie and Flynn wasted absolutely no time receiving every hug they could from this group on behalf of the ghosts, intending to pass them on metaphorically through further hugs once they got back home. As the group finished passing them, Julie turned around to offer a grin to her phantoms, only to find Luke rubbing Reggie's shoulder sympathetically. Concerned, Julie disregarded the parade for the moment to make sure her friend was alright, and felt a frown on her face develop when she saw the way Reggie's head hung low, his mouth scrunched up and unshed tears shining prominently in his eyes. Slowly reaching out, she gingerly took his hand in hers, ignoring the familiar poof of him becoming visible, and waited for him to close his grip around it before continuing. She felt an increase in pressure as Reggie reciprocated, and took that as permission to gently dust her fingers across his cheek, catching a tear that had just begun to edge out of his right eye.</p><p>'Do you want your hug now?' Julie asked, deciding that, if he was willing, the hugs didn't have to wait until they got home.</p><p>Reggie gave a small nod and leaned forward onto Julie, flattening his nose into her shoulder. She rubbed his upper back lightly, her other arm wrapping around his waist, and hummed a nonsense tune softly, knowing that even though he probably couldn't hear it over everything else he would be able to feel the vibrations run through her chest, neck and head against his, and her slow, purposeful breathing would give him a way to ease himself once he was ready. After a moment, Reggie straightened up once more, and gave a smile to Julie that, though small, could still run cars off the road, and that Julie had dearly missed for those few moments.</p><p>'I think I'm okay,' he announced, looking behind him at the other ghosts. 'Thanks, Jules. You're... I don't know... strangely maternal?' He giggled, seemingly at the thought.</p><p>Julie couldn't stop the laugh that erupted out of her, full-bellied and tuneful. 'Thanks for the compliment, Reggie.' she beamed. 'Though I think you might just be fun to baby.'</p><p>'Yeah, I'm gonna go with what she said,' Flynn agreed, having stepped back to see what was going on a couple minutes prior.</p><p>Reggie exaggerated a pout and directed it to the both of them. 'Words hurt,' he insisted, wriggling out of Julie's grasp as protest, the discorporealating poof occurring just after.</p><p>'Well, see, that's just immature,' Flynn argued playfully, turning their attention back to the parade to maintain her pretend annoyance.</p>
<hr/><p>It was a little while later, the sun still high in the sky, when the group decided to move further down Santa Monica Boulevard, inching their way closer to the festival and ducking for shade from the sun under awnings to preserve the hydration of the lifers among them. It was under one of these awnings where Flynn began to wonder if the heat was getting to them.</p><p>'Fuck, Julie, I think I'm crying,' she announced, turning their head quickly to meet Julie's gaze. Sure enough, with the tears welling up in their eyes it was looking that way.</p><p>'Oh my god, why?' Julie asked, sounding slightly frantic, reaching out quickly to grasp Flynn's wrists in her hands. 'Flynn, what's wrong?'</p><p>There was a slight pause. 'I don't even know,' Flynn replied, letting out a somewhat hysterical laugh. 'I think I've got heatstroke,' they half-joked.</p><p>Julie wasn't buying it. Furrowing her brow, she moved her gaze until she had forced Flynn into making eye contact with her. She tried to search her friend's eyes for some indication of what had made them upset, her nose scrunching from the concentration she was dedicating to the task. Flynn was quick to avert their gaze again, though it shook as they did.</p><p>Julie felt concern fully take over. 'Hey,' she said softly, grabbing Flynn's attention. Gently leaning in, Julie lightly bumped her forehead into Flynn's, letting it rest there and giving Flynn the opportunity to pull away if they wanted to. They did not.</p><p>'I just,' they began, looking down. 'I guess.' She paused for a moment. 'I wish Carrie wasn't being such a bitch so that she could be here with us.' Julie was struck by this. <em>Of course</em>. Just as when Flynn had decided that the two of them were to be Double Trouble until the end of time, Flynn had been the one to elatedly let Carrie in, renaming their troupe Triple Threat, sealing her into their friendship forever, because they all loved each other so wholly and with so much childlike vigor then that they couldn't imagine a future where they weren't taking on the world together, as a team. Julie felt a pang as her heart ached for the loss Flynn must have felt these past years, watching her two closest friends lose all of the history and love they had spent fostering, and the added guilt, thinking that they themself were at fault for bringing Carrie into their lives in the first place. Julie couldn't help but also feel guilty for being who Flynn had chosen to stay with. She had no idea what she could say to help ease the pain.</p><p>'Me too,' Julie settled on, gently stroking her hands up and down Flynn's arms. Then, maybe too hopeful, she continued, 'But I'm sure she'll come around.'</p><p>Flynn let out a wry laugh, almost entirely air. 'You think?' she asked. Her tone was mostly unbelieving, but Julie caught a glimmer of that same hope buried beneath those layers of derision.</p><p>'Yeah, I do,' Julie responded, finding herself more confident in her answer than she had anticipated.</p><p>Flynn paused for a second. Then, seemingly having decided that the sad part was over with, commented, 'We're really all crying in public today, huh?'</p><p>Julie let out a giggle. To the side she heard Luke shout, 'I won't be!'</p><p>'Luke says he won't be,' Julie communicated, still laughing lightly.</p><p>'Mm-hm, yeah, we'll see about that,' Flynn concluded, nodding smugly and directing a pointing finger in the entirely wrong direction.</p>
<hr/><p>Without having purchased tickets, it was inevitable that Julie and Flynn and their secret plus-four were never going to make it inside the festival grounds. They had given up on trying only halfway through the queue when Alex had gotten on the runway about their potentially being done for trespassing, regardless of the fact that he was invisible and could walk through a prison cell if it ever actually got to that point. Conceding, Julie and Flynn had ducked under the ropes enclosing the queue, Julie sticking her tongue out in playful annoyance when the ghosts made a point of breezing through them, and found a space backing up onto one of the makeshift walls enclosing the festival, close enough that the music playing could still be heard, but blocked from anyone noticing them partying to the music for free. Never one to have their stride be broken, Flynn pulled Julie up from where she was now sitting on the tarmac and jumped with her to the music, the two of them holding onto each other's hands for dear life, their grips being the only thing stopping them from violently bouncing into or away from one another. The song playing was unrecognisable to Julie, but the steady, thunderous house beat keeping it moving was perfect for their pseudo-moshing, the two of them out of breath and smiling widely by the time the song had finished.</p><p>Just as soon as one song had ended, however, another started, the same Mariana-Trench-deep bass thrumming through Julie's whole being. Looking around, her eyes landed on Luke, sat up against the slate grey wall, looking back at Julie, a small smile playing on his lips. Jogging over to him, she pulled him up by the arm, no words necessary. She barely even registered his small poof into corporeality over the music that was swiftly becoming her everything in this moment, as music always did. Luke let himself be guided to the middle of their pseudo-dance floor and swiveled lightly from side to side as Julie held his hands and pulled at each arm on alternating beats. It didn't take long until he was bouncing on his toes with each swivel, and it took even less time after that point fot them to both be jumping in place, still pulling on each other's arms, still swiveling, but now also laughing and cheering, making up nonsense lyrics for the melody of the song they could barely hear, each fake stanza dissolving into fits of out-of-breath giggles until they could no longer jump and laugh at the same time, leaning into each other for support as they still breathlessly sang along to the song, hands still tightly held, wheezing out past laughter the last five words of every line into the crooks of each other's necks, Luke's breath tickling her ear and lightly bouncing a stray lock of curls, occasionally stomping on the tarmac as a further outlet for the fits of laughter.</p><p>'We're not even that funny,' Julie remarked with a laugh, raising her right hand, still metaphorically fastened to Luke's left, to brush a tear of laughter from her eye as the song finally died out. She expected a comeback, or a huff, or even just the feeling of Luke shaking with laughter against her in return, but he was silent. Straightening up, Julie noted how Luke's face was turned away from her, and gently dropped her right hand from his left, needing her fingers to lightly turn his head by the chin to face hers. The tears shining in his eyes were definitely greater in number than would be the typical response to hearing a bad joke. Julie's concern rose.</p><p>'It was the music, Jules,' he laughed, a few of the tears spilling over and racing down his cheeks. How ghosts could cry, Julie still wasn't sure, but it never failed to break her heart. 'It doesn't even matter how good it is, it's always the fucking music.'</p><p>'I know,' Julie consoled, doing her best to wipe the tears off his cheeks with the palm of her hand.</p><p>'I knew we'd need ghost tissues, and now we've needed them three times. How did I fucking know?' Julie heard Alex remark sarcastically, followed by the telltale rustling of him rooting through his fanny pack.</p><p>'I even said I wasn't gonna cry!' Luke continued, the laughs becoming brighter in tone as he also began swiping at his tears.</p><p>'Yeah, well, in all honesty I knew you wouldn't last,' Julie joked, hearing Flynn bark a laugh in response.</p><p>Luke feigned offence, holding his free hand up to his heart. 'Wouldn't last? Moi? Julianna, I thought you thought better of me!'</p><p>Reassured that Luke was coming back to his typical smiley self, any potential snarky response died on Julie's lips. 'You... goon,' she eventually managed, pulling him in for a proper hug.</p>
<hr/><p>About an hour later the sun had made suggestions that it might begin to set, and then Alex had done the math and the group had decided that they should start the trek home now if they wanted to make the entire journey with the sun still up. Once back to the top of Holloway, rounding onto Crescent Heights once more, Flynn turned on her "post-game music", which were actually more polished pop songs. Julie could have sworn she heard repeats, but if that were the case they were good repeats. The group were all clearly tired, even the members who shouldn't technically be able to become fatigued, and Julie was certain that she and Flynn smelled less than terrific, but the giddy feeling of a full heart easily diminished the importance of all of that in favour for looking in wonder at the slowly setting sun and the colours it was bleeding across the sky, and for singing quietly along to Flynn's music, a spring in all of their steps.</p><p>Roughly a half hour into their walk, Julie began to pick up a single side of a conversation.</p><p>'If you want to, you can walk up next to her,' Alex suggested, presumably to Willie. 'She's right there.'</p><p>A pause.</p><p>'No, of course she won't! You're my boyfriend, of course you're her friend too!' There was no heat to his words, but clearly Alex was having a hard time making Willie believe him. Julie thought it best to leave them to it, not wanting to potentially scare Willie away from whatever he wanted to do.</p><p>A pause.</p><p>'Willie, I promise she's not gonna hate you for this. I'm sure she'll be nothing but appreciative. I mean it.'</p><p>A couple minutes later, Julie felt a hand slip into hers, and Willie rippled into visibility next to her. Glancing towards him, her heart felt as though it would overflow seeing them in the hoodie Julie had fashioned. It looked like it belonged on him, and it always felt wonderful to witness the purpose of your art.</p><p>'Sorry,' they began immediately, shaking Julie out of her miniature trance. 'If this is weird I can-'</p><p>'No, you're alright, don't worry.' Julie grinned warmly at him, trying desperately to let him know that they were welcome with a single facial expression.</p><p>'Okay,' Willie responded, mostly to themself. There was a pause before he continued.</p><p>'I just wanted to thank you for, uh, letting me come along.' His head remained facing forward as they spoke. 'Today was really fun and I, uh.' There was another pause, this one incrementally heavier in its silence than the last. 'I'd never been able to work up the courage to go to... Pride, since I'd died. Or, well, before either, but that's for more obvious...' he trailed off, and Julie noticed that their voice was growing slightly more strained with every thought. Without particularly thinking, she took up rubbing her thumb faintly across the back of his hand, hoping to do something to ease some tension.</p><p>Willie let out a shaky sigh and continued, still facing forward. 'You've, uh, really built a... safe-haven?' The sentence came out as a question, the final word shooting up in octaves. Julie applied slightly more pressure to the hand she was holding, and the movements of her thumb became deliberate and rhythmic. 'I didn't- I thought the afterlife would only ever be a dog-eat-dog kind of world, because of-' They took a shuddering breath. Julie saw Alex speed up his pace out of the corner of her eye.</p><p>'It's okay,' they insisted. 'I need to say this.' Julie nodded, trying to encourage him. Alex slowed his pace a little.</p><p>They shakily began again, 'You don't even realise it, but you're doing good work, giving all of these ghosts a home.'</p><p>Julie didn't think about how Luke had said they had nowhere else to go.</p><p>'And I know I don't deserve to tag along after everything I-'</p><p>'You did nothing wrong,' Julie interrupted, her tone fiercer than she intended, desperate for him to believe her. 'You had no idea what would happen. You did everything you could to stop it. If you weren't there, Willie, they would've-'</p><p>Julie had to stop this line of thinking before it ate her alive.</p><p>'You don't have to thank me for having you around. You make Alex happy. You make all of us happy.' She took a moment to organise her thoughts. 'You're not just welcome here, Willie. I don't know where we'd be if you <em>weren't</em> here.'</p><p>The first sob that escaped from Willie was higher than Julie had imagined, much closer to their giggle, based on the few times that she had heard it, than his regular speaking voice. What hurt worse was the way their face crumpled like a child's, and how they rushed to hide it, bending over and covering his mouth with his left hand, as if they were ashamed of crying. Or scared of what might happen when he did. What hurt even worse was how the next few sobs were entirely silent, only expressed through a hunched posture and tense, shaking shoulders.</p><p>Julie stopped dead in her tracks. Willie continued on for a couple paces, but was stopped by the yank of Julie's arm no longer following him and turned around, hurriedly swiping at their eyes.</p><p>'Sorry, I know I shouldn't be acting like-'</p><p>'Willie, can I hug you?' Julie interrupted again, not letting his self-critique take root.</p><p>What hurt the worst was the tiny nod they gave.</p><p>Julie made quick work of closing the distance between them and pulling Willie into the tightest hug she could muster, her arms firmly wrapped aroound his waist, disregarding entirely the ghost tears dampening her shoulder. What felt like only seconds, but may well have been minutes, later, Julie felt Alex join the hug, apparating as he enveloped them both with his arms and whispering quietly, so that almost no one but Willie could hear, 'Four times.' Willie couldn't help the giggle that escaped. A few moments later Luke and Reggie joined the hug in tandem, each only taking half of the group hug, as that was all their arms could manage to wrap around at this point. Flynn then joined as well, nestling their head into Julie's curls and letting out a contented noise when her hands impacted on solid fabric instead of phasing through Luke's and Reggie's backs. They stayed like that, entangled, the only sounds able to be heard the soft breathing of one another, even though that process was optional for the majority of them, for what felt like forever.</p>
<hr/><p>In the end they made it back a little after dark, rounding onto the driveway just as the sun had finally ducked below the horizon, and though Ray expressed concern at first, Julie and Flynn were quick to assure him that they hadn't been out in the dark for long, which seemed to alleviate some of his worries.</p><p>Flynn had insisted months earlier that they would stay the night again after Pride, and with everything no longer crashing down around them in the ethereal plane, the ghosts had been more than excited to join in when the offer was posed. That was how they had all ended up in the studio, dancing to Flynn's "post-post-game music" playlist, which, again, basically just hyperpop, but this time with some slow songs mixed in to help the group wind down, until the three stars visible past the Los Angeles light pollution were high in the sky, the colour of which was black to the point where you couldn't help but remember how what you were looking at basically went on forever.</p><p>That was also how Julie and Luke had ended up on the couch together, Luke leaning against the arm and Julie snuggled into his side, a woven blanket over the two of them and the others, even the ghosts, fast asleep, leaving them for all intents and purposes alone. It was in this half-state of lonesomeness that Julie's mind was able to wander to the place it had done for a few years now, whenever something pivotal happened.</p><p>'Mom would've loved you,' she spoke into the silence. She felt Luke shift next to her.</p><p>'You sure? I'm pretty sure we annoyed the shit out of her when we first met,' Luke joked, slinging his arm around Julie's shoulders.</p><p>She laughed, but there wasn't much force to it. 'She said you were good, at least,' she offered.</p><p>Luke hummed. It was clear that she needed to air this out, and it was clear that he would let her.</p><p>Julie could already feel the lump in her throat developing as she began to speak, 'Mom would've loved all of you so much. God, she would've been so proud of you. She would've been so proud of Alex for knowing himself and believing in himself and falling in love even after all of the trash his parents talked. She would've been so proud of you and Reggie for figuring yourselves out, however late it came in comparison. If she was here she would've listened-' Julie had to take a break, the grief beginning to drown her and hot tears springing to her eyes. On instinct, Luke drew her closer to him, guiding her head to rest on his chest, letting her focus on the breathing he didn't have to do, but continued to do out of habit.</p><p>After a few minutes, after Julie had managed to calm down a little, Luke asked gently, 'Do you want to continue?'</p><p>Julie nodded softly, but didn't move to sit back up. Instead, she continued from her new position. 'She would've listened when you came out and she would've hugged you and loved you all the same and said all the right things. I just know she would. She's my Mom.' She absentmindedly wiped at the tears she hadn't noticed had begun to race sideways down her face, pooling at the bridge of her nose and her right temple.</p><p>'She would've loved Willie to the moon and back. She would've thought he was radiant, which they are, and she would've taken him in as their entire self and been so happy that they got to know us and we got to know him and it was all because Alex was free to be in love, goddammit.' She paused, unsure of how to proceed or what emotions might rear their ugly heads when she did.</p><p>'Flynn never got to tell her. They didn't know, really, who she was and what they felt until after. I guess it's that comphet bullshit.' Now the tear-wiping had a hint of anger at the missed moments-that-could-have-been behind it.</p><p>'Fuck comphet. I hate that bitch,' Luke remarked softly, in a jokingly furious manner, stroking a hand through Julie's hair. Julie didn't have it in her to laugh.</p><p>'Yeah,' she eventually agreed, voice barely above a whisper. The silence drew out as Julie considered what route could delay the tears the longest in her next line of conversation. She came up empty.</p><p>'I... didn't really get to tell her, either.' Luke's hand stilled.</p><p>She felt the inexplicable need to clarify. 'I mean, I think she knew. I'd come home with silly love songs I wanted to write all the time, even in, like, elementary, and sometimes I'd want my Mom to talk about how fast <em>he</em> could run or how cute <em>he</em> looked with <em>his</em> new prescription glasses on, but sometimes I'd want her to talk about how elegant <em>her</em> handwriting was or how I really liked the way <em>her</em> hair looked when <em>she</em> clipped it back, and we'd make piles of love songs named after classmates I'd only have eyes for for a week, and she never asked questions. I mean, it wasn't like I'd have any answers: I was eight.' They both chuckled, her voice having grown particularly thick, with Luke's now not far behind.</p><p>'But I never told her outright, with any of the terminology. Everything was so bad by the time I had words for it. There wasn't a good time to tell her. There was never going to be a good time. And then there weren't any times. At all.' Luke sucked in a breath. Julie knew well enough what that probably meant.</p><p>'You don't have to say "I'm sorry", it wasn't anybody's fault that-'</p><p>'No, I know,' Luke interrupted. 'I know that sounds like the word equivalent of a filler episode for a sitcom. It's useless.' He paused. 'But you <em>did</em> deserve the opportunity to tell her. And I <em>am</em> sorry that you lost out on that.'</p><p>Julie didn't know how to respond to that. Luckily, a yawn beat her to it.</p><p>'Tired, huh?' Luke asked, his smile evident through the way he spoke.</p><p>'Exhausted,' Julie confirmed, turning to face into Luke's chest.</p><p>Luke hummed in thought, the sound ricocheing off the inside walls of Julie's skull. 'Do you wanna stay here?'</p><p>'Won't you be uncomfortable?' Julie asked, though half the question was marred by a second yawn.</p><p>Luke chuckled lightly. 'I'm a ghost, I think I'll "live".'</p><p>This remark did manage to coax a laugh out of Julie, allowing her to drift off with a small smile on her face.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was my first oneshot for JATP and, like, ngl I'm kinda nervous about how it turned out lol, but thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed !</p><p>My tumblr is @oldsmobile-hotdogs if you want to scream about JATP with me !</p><p>Btw if you recognise the song they're singing or any of the events sound familiar to your experience of London Pride 2019 no they don't hahaha why would you think that,,,,,,,,</p></blockquote></div></div>
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